MicroTESK: A tool for constrained random test program generation for microprocessors

Abstract

The paper presents MicroTESK, a tool for test program generation for functional verification of microprocessors. It generates test programs from templates which describe generation tasks in terms of constraints that must be satisfied in order to reach certain coverage goals. The tool uses formal specifications of the instruction set as a source of knowledge about the microprocessor under verification. This gives several advantages. First, the tool is easily adapted to new architectures by providing corresponding specifications. Second, constraints that constitute coverage model are automatically extracted from specifications. Third, a reference model used to track the microprocessor state during test generation is constructed on the basis of specifications. Such an approach helps to reduce the effort required to create test programs and increase the quality of testing. The tool has been successfully applied in industrial projects for verification of ARMv8 and MIPS64 microprocessors.